DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) Airbus has begun flight tests of an Airbus A320 fitted with a hybrid laminar flow (HLF) fin.
The tests are taking place in Toulouse, in co-operation with the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) and the other Airbus partners. The programme aims to fly an aircraft fitted with a full laminar-flow system in wings, engine nacelles and empennage by the end of 1996, says DASA Airbus.
The flight tests now under way are intended to check the operation of the measuring instruments built into the DASA Airbus-developed test fin. The HLF fin uses a combination of surface suction at the leading edge and fin profile adjustments to maintain laminar flow.
Source: Flight International
